Byzantium primarily intersected the lives of the Slavic peoples of Russia, Western Europe, and the dar-al-Islam.

Slavic peoples
  • The Byzantines have had some form of interaction with them since the 6th century C.E.
  • When the Slavs saw Justinian campaigning in the west, they attempted to conquer defenseless parts of the empire. This strained relations for a brief amount of time.
  • When Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 989C.E., relations greatly improved. Many of his people converted as well.
  • They traveled to Constantinople for an education and borrowed heavily from Byzantine politics.

Western Europe
  • Variance in doctrine led to the mutual excommunication of the pope and the patrairch of Constantinople known as the Great Schism in 1054.
  • While Eastern Orthodox was more influenced by the government and more open to change, the roman Catholic Church continued to hold services in Latin and the pope would relinquish no authority.
  • In 1204, Constantinople was victim to the Roman Catholic crusades originally meant to conquer Holy Land back from Muslim control.

dar-al-Islam
  • Emperor Justinian reclaimed much of the land taken by Muslims, but his successors were not able to maintain control of it long after his death.
  • Though they had different beliefs, the Byzantines continued to trade with Muslim merchants.

faith heffernan
rachel krick

edited by Kristine and Jason (great job!)
I may not be the teacher, but A+! Brett Krumenacker